HTC has launched its latest Windows Mobile smartphone in Australia, the HD2. Boasting one of the largest screens on a smartphone (4.3in), the HTC HD2 is the first Windows Mobile phone to feature a capacitive display and a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU.

"The HTC HD2 is one of the most advanced and intuitive phones HTC has ever created," said HTC's Anthony Petts. "The phone provides users with one of the largest, most visually stunning capacitive touch displays available on the market. Screen size is an important parameter for how good the keyboard is and the HD2 is just as good as a physical keyboard in this respect."

The HTC HD2 has a number of iPhone-like features, including full multitouch capabilities — enabling users to "pinch" the screen to zoom in on Web pages, photos and documents.

Billed as both a consumer and business device, the HTC HD2 smartphone offers conference calling with up to five parties as well as the ability to use the phone as either a tethered modem or a Wi-Fi router.

The HD2 uses HTC's Sense UI theme, incorporating three principles: "make it mine", "stay close" and "discover the unexpected". The Sense UI enables users to personalise their phone with glance-view widgets, integrating Facebook status and photo updates into a single address book view, and providing social-networking and multimedia functions on the home screen.

The HTC HD2 has a 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, a digital compass and an accelerometer. A 16GB microSD card is included in the sales package

The HTC HD2 will be exclusive to Telstra in Australia until 31 March. It is available for $0 up front on an $80 plan over 24 months, or $829 outright. Interestingly, the phone is unlocked when purchased outright, so users are able to use any other Australian SIM with the smartphone.

The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.

My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.

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